The sermon at church yesterday morning was “When Obeying God Seems Dumb.” My minister’s main point was that doing what God wants is not always easy, but it is certainly best, and his sermon was based on two stories; that of Abraham willing to sacrifice Isaac and the story of Eric Liddell’s historical Olympic experience.

If you’ve seen the movie Chariots of Fire, you may have been thrilled by Eric Liddell’s stand for principle, which clearly jeopardized his chance to win an Olympic Gold Medal, because the 100 meters was his best race. But he dropped out of that event, rather than run on Sunday. He had a strong spiritual conviction that he shouldn’t run on Sundays, so instead of doing that, he spoke in a Paris church on the day he would have run, using Isaiah 40:31 as the basis for his message, which says But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint

So the starting guns popped in the stadium without him on that particular Sunday. Nevertheless, Eric captured an unexpected bronze in the 200-meter and worked his way through the qualifying heats for the 400-meter. But his trial times were not spectacular, and it did not seem he could beat the other fine contenders. Defeat or victory, however, he would accept it. He had told the crowds who came to hear him speak that he did not ever question what God chose to do. “I don’t need explanations from God. I simply believe him and accept whatever comes my way.” The gun cracked. Eric was out of his crouch and running, head tilted back, arms flailing. And if that had been a sprint, he could not have flown faster, and when the finish tape drew taut across his chest, he was five meters ahead of his nearest rival. Eric had won the gold in a record 47.6 seconds!

Then in Genesis 22, we are told that Abraham was asked to give his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. Obviously that’s a considerably tougher decision to make than the decision Eric Liddell made not to run on Sunday. However, I think when we get down to the basics, honoring and obeying God is what it’s all about. And Abraham certainly obeyed God with a seemingly infinite amount of faith and trust. The scripture says that he told his servants to stay with the donkeys; that he and his boy would go a little farther. He said WE will worship there, and then WE will come right back. He didn’t say I, but we. This shows us that Abraham had a history with God, and he was expecting the same faithfulness from God that he had always received. And when Isaac asked where the sheep was, Abraham responded by telling him that God would provide. Again, Abraham showed his faith in God by knowing that God would work it out. Of course, we know that God intervened at just the right time, and when He called Abraham’s name as he was about to sacrifice his son, he once again simply said ”Here I am.” And the rest of the verses tell us that Abraham was rewarded “because he obeyed.”

I can not imagine having to endure a test of faith like Abraham endured. I can’t even imagine having to injure my child, let alone having to kill him. And I wonder if my conviction about the Sabbath would be as strong as Eric Liddell’s. As we ponder these two situations, lets go to the Lord, because we have scripture after scripture proving that God supports our stand for marriage restoration. And we have just as much scripture, if not more, promising that God will answer our prayers. As we have discussed before, most of us have no reservations that God will indeed restore our marriages. So the question is whether or not we will obey Him as we wait for Him to change us and the hearts of our spouses. Will we resist the temptations the enemy uses to get us to give up? Do we have the faith and trust that Eric Liddell had when he said “I don’t need explanations from God. I simply believe him and accept whatever comes my way.”? Can we approach the task God lays before us with the assurance that Abraham had when he told his servants that he and Isaac would both come back? Will God someday be able to say to us:
“This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants[a] beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”? (Genesis 22:16-18 – NLT)

May we be obedient to our Father as we wait upon Him and may we know that He provides everything we need as we wait. Blessings!

Genesis 22 (NLT)
1 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.
“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.
4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”
6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together,
7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.
9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice.
11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven.
16 “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that
17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants[a] beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies.
18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 11:58 pm in Seeds Of Faith.